For a variety of reasons, people sometimes want some or all of their assets to pass directly to specific individuals upon their deaths, outside of probate. One way to accomplish this is to set up a “payable on death” (POD) account for money in a bank account or a “transfer on death” (TOD) account if funds are in a brokerage account.
Executing a power of attorney is not as simple as it first seems. It is important to have a qualified elder law attorney help you. The team at Strohschein Law Group offers the quality, compassion and experience required to help you, or a loved one, put your personal affairs in order.
We accumulate a lot of stuff over a lifetime and at some point – perhaps due to death, divorce, debt, or downsizing – we need to get rid of it. An estate sale is one way to dispose…
If you’re like most people, you have the best of intentions with regard to how you want your estate distributed when you die or your affairs handled should you become incapacitated. Unfortunately, without proper planning, your best intentions may not be enough. Here are six of the most common estate planning mistakes people make.
Is your family of the “Leave It to Beaver” variety — opposite-gender parents, the first marriage for each, one or more kids, all healthy and thriving? If so, your estate plan will probably be pretty straight forward. But if not, it’s not as simple and you have a lot of company. Strohschein Law Group is aware of family dynamics and variety. We work with sensitive family situations every day. We stay focused on our core values of being approachable, client focused, collaborative, compassionate, and experienced. Your important issues will be heard and we will protect what matters most.
With careful Medicaid planning, you may be able to preserve some of your estate for your children or other heirs while meeting the Medicaid asset limit. In Illinois, a nursing home resident covered by Medicaid may have no more than $2,000 in “countable” assets.
The main distinction is that a 401(k) — named for the section of the tax code that discusses it — is an employer-based plan, while an IRA is an individual plan, but there are other differences as well. Strohschein Law Group will help you develop an estate plan with all of these considerations and more. Let us help you do the homework!
The nation’s elderly and disabled Social Security recipients will receive a 1.7 percent increase in payments in 2015.
This IRS rule has nothing to do with Medicaid’s asset transfer rules. While the $14,000 that you gave to your grandchild this year will be exempt from any gift tax, Medicaid will still count it as a transfer that could make you ineligible for nursing home benefits for a certain amount of time should you apply for them within the next five years.
Illinois is not a state with filial responsibility laws, however 28 states currently have filial responsibility laws. These laws usually make adult children responsible for their parents’ care if their parents can’t afford to take care of themselves, but some of the laws also make parents responsible for their childrens’ care. Where do your parents live?